Magnet ingestion continues killing children despite warnings

Opposites attract. It's a well-known phenomenon, often applied metaphorically to dating but it's also true in the physical world. Take magnets, for example.

Everyone knows that if you have two magnets, they will attract each other under certain circumstances and repel under others. Hold the positive or negative ends together and they will repel; hold the opposite ends together and they will attract each other and lock tightly together.

This is safe enough under normal circumstances but it can have serious, even fatal, consequences when children are involved – specifically, those shiny little high-powered magnet toys sold on Amazon and elsewhere. They are often swallowed when infants and toddlers get their hands on them.

Swallowing metal objects is never good. When those objects are magnets, it's even worse. When swallowed, the magnets can clamp together in the children's gastrointestinal tract, possibly causing a life-threatening intestinal blockage.

Despite numerous safety recalls and published alerts, this is a health emergency that continues to repeat itself, physicians warn.

"Most dangerous toys..."

“High-powered, rare-earth magnetic balls or beads ... are among the most dangerous toys when kids eat them. It doesn't matter what the child's socioeconomic or racial background is, whether the child is being watched, or if supervising adults know the magnets are dangerous – kids still manage to eat them and many of them need surgery to fix the internal damage caused by the magnets,” said Minna Wieck, MD, BA, FAAP, assistant professor of pediatric surgery, UC Davis Children's Hospital.

“The only foolproof way to make sure these injuries don't happen is to keep these types of magnets away from kids,” Wieck said.

Wieck and others recently studied results from 25 U.S. hospitals and found that these injuries are increasing despite age restrictions, warning labels, and educational public health campaigns explaining the dangers.

The danger is not restricted to poorer households. Of the 594 high-powered magnet exposures in the study, 74.3% were from higher socioeconomic backgrounds. But children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds required more invasive procedures and surgeries, longer hospital admission, and more readmissions to save their lives.

"Parents almost never think their kid will ‘be so dumb as to swallow’ magnets. But kids are doing so more often, despite adult supervision and even when adults know that these magnets are potentially dangerous,” Wieck said. “Since risk is proportional to access, the safest way to prevent injuries is to remove high-powered magnets from any environment where children may be present.”

What to do

What can you do to keep your child from being harmed by swallowing magnets? The most obvious answer is to make sure there are no small magnets in your home and to check with caregivers, relatives and friends to be sure they know of the danger.

If you suspect magnets have been swallowed:

• Seek immediate medical attention

• Medical symptoms to watch for are: abdominal pains, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

"These high-powered magnets are not the magnets off your grandfather's refrigerator door. They are up to eight times stronger than magnets that are used in toys," the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission (CPSC) warns.

Companies notified of the danger

This chart from the CPSC shows notice violations to companies that marketed their magnetic balls and cubes to children in violation of federal safety standards for toys and recalls.

 Magnet recalls

CPSC has issued several recalls, including these:

Zen Magnets and Neoballs Magnets Recalled Due to Ingestion Hazard (Aug. 17, 2021)

Ingestion of High-Powered Magnetic Balls and Magnetic Cubes Poses Serious Risk of Severe Internal Injury or Death in Children and Teens (Aug. 17, 2021)

Star Networks USA Recalls Magnicubes (Aug. 4, 2014)

High Powered Magnet Balls Recalled by SCS Direct (Jan. 31, 2013)

Buckyballs and Buckycubes Refunds Now Available (July 17, 2014)

Kringles Toys and Gifts Recalls High Powered Magnets (Jan. 31, 2013)

CPSC Sues Star Networks USA Over Hazardous, High-Powered Magnetic Balls and Cubes (Dec. 19, 2012)

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking: Magnet Sets (Sept. 4, 2012)

CPSC Sues Zen Magnets Over Hazardous, High-Powered Magnetic Balls (Aug. 6, 2012)

CPSC Sues Maxfield & Oberton Over Hazardous Buckyballs, Buckycubes (July 25, 2012)

CPSC Warns High-Powered Magnets and Children Make a Deadly Mix (Nov. 10, 2011)